Sunday 10th October.
Another fun filled day on the canals! We had planned to get to Nantwich today but were thwarted twice. The first thing was that Ken had to change the generator and domestic alternator belts. He discovered the generator one was a bit frayed when he was testing the tension of it before we set off. So as he had the generator one off he decided to change the other one as well. This took about an hour, 15 minutes of which was spent trying to retrieve his nuts from the engine well!
We set off about 10 am, negotiated the electric lift bridge, only one other boat to let through this time and moored up so Ken could walk into the village for a paper. About 10-30 am we set off again now intending to get through Hurleston locks and moor up there. However, when we got to the first of the Baddiley locks there was a queue of 4 boats and a lot of people standing, looking into the lock. Ken went up to find out what was going on and discovered that the lock wouldn’t fill. BW had been summoned but not yet arrived.
As it was now lunchtime and there are some 48 hour moorings there we decided not to get in the queue but to moor up and have a sandwich and a beer and await the outcome. About an hour later and without the assistance of BW, the lock seemed to be ok and the queue dispersed. Not one other boat had come the same way as us in that time. With the problem with the lock resolved we decided to move on a bit further. When we got to the lock the BW man was there so I asked him what had been the problem. He said he didn’t know as he had come from Stoke and had only just arrived. The people waiting must have cleared the obstruction to the paddle themselves.
After the three Baddiley locks we also did the two Swanley locks and then, as it was a lovely afternoon, we decided to call it a day when we got to Burland. We will tackle the Hurleston locks tomorrow! We hope to get to Audlem tomorrow but you never know!
